Climbing Mt.Everest has never been this easy. (moved from ATSNN), page 1

A new world record was set on May 14th, 2005. A Ecureuil/AStar 350 B3 helicopter landed on top of Mount Everest with the help of X-test pilot Didier Delsalle. The world record prior to this was 25,000 feet, held by the Cheetah model helicopter. Landing on the "South Pass" of Mt.Everest, it remained there for two minutes and then flew back to base camp. The whole treck took roughly ten minutes.

www.defencetalk.com
MARIGNANE, France: On May 14th, 2005 at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/AStar AS 350 B3 piloted by the Eurocopter X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 meters (29,035ft) on the top of the Mount Everest (Kingdom of Nepal).

This tremendous achievement breaks the World Record for the highest altitude landing and take-off ever, which sets an ultimate milestone in the History of Aviation.

As required by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI - International Aeronautical Federation), the aircraft remained landed on ground more than 2 minutes on the top of the world before flying back to Lukla.

This feat was renewed the day after.

Stepping out of his helicopter, Didier Delsalle commented: « To reach this mythical summit definitively seemed to be a dream; despite the obvious difficulties of the target to be reached, the aircraft demonstrated its capability to cope with the situation (…), sublimated by the magic of the place”.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Simply amazing. Imagine going from base camp to the summit in ten minutes. You could leave today for Nepal and come back tomorrow having been on the summit. I wonder if this kind of treck will become commercial. I wonder how much it would cost if they decide to market this.